Aquarius V5.0: Annual Rain-flagged Sea Surface Salinity

Aquarius Level 3 data provides annual, rain-flagged sea surface salinity (SSS) at a 1-degree spatial resolution. The dataset originates from the NASA-CONAE AQUARIUS/SAC-D satellite, which uses three radiometers at 1.413 GHz and a 1.26 GHz scatterometer to measure brightness temperature and ocean backscatter for salinity estimation. This annual composite is part of a suite of products averaged over daily, 7-day, monthly, and seasonal timescales.

Use Cases

• Analyzing long-term ocean salinity trends based on annual, rain-filtered composites.
• Validating ocean circulation and freshwater flux models using gridded 1-degree resolution data.
• Studying the impact of rainfall on sea surface salinity retrievals using the rain-flagged product.
• Correlating salinity with other oceanographic variables using brightness temperature (TH, TV) and backscatter measurements.
• Mapping global salinity distributions for climate indices from satellite-derived data.

Strengths

• Provides data at a consistent 1-degree spatial resolution, facilitating global-scale analysis.
• Incorporates a dedicated scatterometer (1.26 GHz) for surface roughness correction, improving salinity estimation accuracy.
• Derived from a specific satellite instrument with detailed technical specifications (e.g., three beams with footprints from 76x94 km to 96x156 km).
• Represents a multi-agency collaborative effort between NASA and Argentina's CONAE, suggesting rigorous calibration.

Limitations

• Metadata on row count, file size, and specific column names is unavailable across all sources.
• A significant conflict exists in the 'last updated' date between platforms (2015 vs. 2026), casting doubt on data maintenance.
• The license is ambiguously noted as 'other-license-specified' without explicit terms.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Comision Nacional de Actividades Espaciales (CONAE)

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing via the AQUARIUS/SAC-D satellite's radiometers and scatterometer.

Time Range

Annual composites (specific years not provided).

Freshness

2026-03-13 17:28:53.702770

Geography

Global ocean coverage with a total cross-track swath of 370 km (scatterometer swath ~390 km).